Your Guardian Angel
by DominoTyler
Summary: Sequel to Beautiful Disaster! Hermione and Draco's married life is going great, when Rodolphus' threats become lethal. Hermione has to find a cure to a deadly disease before it kills everyone she loves. But with Draco there to help, she can do anything.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Harry Potter, the song Your Guardian Angel by the Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, or any other recognizable material!**

Here it is! The sequel to Beautiful Disaster is finally here! I don't know what's going to happen yet, just like when I began Beautiful Disaster, but, unlike Beautiful Disaster, this is written under happier circumstances! And these are that Beautiful Disaster has the most reviews of any of my other stories! Thanks so much, everyone! Mwah! Love you all! ^^

**...**

**I will never let you fall**

**I'll stand up with you forever**

**I'll be there for you through it all**

**Even if saving you sends me to heaven**

_**Your Guardian Angel-Red Jumpsuit Apparatus**_

**...**

The jungle was a very hot, humid place. It was filled with creatures of all sorts, of all levels of dangerousness. It is especially terrifying when one is alone. But when one is with someone, someone such as a close friend, it's not so bad. This is why Hermione Malfoy wasn't afraid of the jungle. Because she was with her best friend and husband, Draco Malfoy. When Draco was around, she knew she was safe. She knew she'd always end up okay as long as he was around.

He held her hand tightly, walking slightly in front of her, wand held out so he'd be ready for anything.

Hermione gasped quietly, and Draco turned his eyes to her.

Hermione brought her finger to her lips and gently let go of Draco's hand, creeping slowly forward, her wand held out and aimed at the reason they had made this long trek. There, perching on a rock, was the last of its kind, the poison rock fly. About five centimetres in diameter, this fly created the most poisonous substance on Earth and, when used properly, one could use this substance in all sorts of potion making. Potions imperative for Hermione's home healing.

Hermione stopped moving when she locked eyes with the fly. It was a very intelligent creature, but so was Hermione. Quick as a flash she had the fly stupefied. In the next moment she had it in a small container, where it would be kept at the right temperature and fed until she needed it for her potion making.

"I got it!" she exclaimed, running back to Draco to give him the biggest hug she could muster.

"That's great, love!" he replied, pressing his lips to hers. They stayed like this a moment or two before they pulled apart. Hermione smiled and dropped the container into her backpack before taking Draco's hand and setting off in the direction of their camp area.

"We got it!" Hermione exclaimed upon entering the camp.

Sirius grinned. He was leaning against a tree, swatting at the pestering bugs that filled the uncharted jungle.

"That's great!" he exclaimed. "Can we leave now?"

Hermione laughed and nodded. "Sure, Sirius. We can leave."

Shortly after Hermione and Draco were married, Hermione set up a Healer's office in their home. A few weeks ago, a great number of people began showing up with odd symptoms, ones Hermione hadn't even heard of in such a combination. Their tongues turned purple, they couldn't hold down their food, they suddenly lost lots of weight, they slept a lot, and patches of orange erupted on their skin. It was like something caused by a Weasley product, but much more dangerous. Hermione had been up until midnight for weeks pouring over volume after volume, trying to find the cure for such a strange illness. She'd consulted with Snape, with Remus, with every Professor she'd ever had who wasn't yet deceased. She finally found something as she was reading a book on Black Magic in the library of Sirius' mansion, Number 12 Grimmauld Place.

"It's not an illness, it's a curse!" she had exclaimed, jumping to her feet, knocking the book from her lap and startling Remus, who'd been reading with her, out of his wits.

"What are you talking about?" he had asked, removing his reading glasses.

Hermione had excitedly shoved the tome beneath his nose. "Right there! Read the description of this curse!"

Remus did so. "Hermione, even if these are the symptoms everyone's coming down with, how can they ALL be cursed?"

"I've been doing a bit of research, and it appears that everyone who's come down with the illness has been in contact with Death Eaters within the month," Hermione had replied.

It was then that they finally found out what was happening-Rodolohus was cursing everyone and anyone who could get in his way with Black Magic, spells and curses created by the most evil members of the house of Black. There was only one cure, and it required quite a bit of time and very rare ingredients.

The poisonous rock fly was only the first ingredient, but it was one of the most necessary. It was a start.

Hermione had brought with her Snape, Remus, Sirius, Ron, Harry and, of course, Draco on her travel through this uncharted jungle. She would have brought along Ginny, but the poor girl was the most recent to fall down with the "illness," and so she had to be left behind.

They'd been gone for four days searching for this fly, and now they could finally go home. They just had to wait for a few of the others to return from their own search, and they would be off.

Ron and Harry were the next group to return to camp, so they simply had to wait for Snape and Remus and they could leave.

"Congratulations, Mione!" Harry exclaimed, throwing his arms around her lightly. "We're nearly there. I knew you could do it."

Hermione grinned. "Couldn't of done it without your help, Harry."

He shrugged, knowing he really hadn't done much.

"What's next?" Ron asked as he lumbered over, hands in his pockets.

Hermione glanced at him quickly before she dug through her backpack for her notes. She and Ron had returned to speaking to each other, but other than that, they really didn't have much to do with the other. Ron hadn't gone back to Lavender after Hermione married Draco as she'd expected he would, but remained single. Harry told her that Ron said he didn't want anyone anymore. It broke Hermione's heart, but she couldn't do anything about it. She was over Ron, and she'd married Draco. That was it.

"Next is a stinger of the Rat-Scorpion of the Ringo Desert," she said, replying to his previous question.

He nodded and returned to his tent to pack up.

Hermione sighed, but forgot all about it when Draco's hand plopped down on her shoulder. She spun around and hugged him. He grinned. "What say you we pack up quickly so we can go home and celebrate?" He winked.

Hermione returned the grin and bolted from his embrace to the tent, followed shortly by his laughter.

...

Here it is, chapter 1 of the sequel to Beautiful Disaster, Your Guardian Angel! I hope you liked it! It's a little different, but please give it a chance. :)

Please review if you get the chance. They make me ever so happy. :)


	2. Chapter 2

Hi! :3

...

Hermione woke up the next morning and stretched her arms wide, luxuriating in the feel of her skin against the soft, clean sheets, rather than the itchy, gunky sleeping bag she had lived in while in the jungle. Her stretching stopped when her arm hit something. She grinned, squeaking as Draco's arms suddenly came from no where and pulled her tightly against him. He buried his face in her hair.

Hermione giggled. "Hi," she whispered, snuggling a little closer.

"Hi," he replied, kissing her forehead. "How did you sleep last night?"

"I didn't," Hermione replied cheekily. "But my sleep this morning was wonderful, thank you."

Draco chuckled. "Should we get up now?"

Hermione shook her head and pressed herself closer to her husband, unwilling to move. "No."

Draco laughed out loud this time. "I think we should."

She shook her head. "No."

Draco groaned as he sat up, still holding Hermione close. As if he had any choice, as Hermione was clinging tightly to his torso. Draco stood out of bed, lifting Hermione into his arms as if she were a toddler, her legs around his waist and his around hers.

"Come on," he said. "What do you say we have breakfast?"

"I say 'I'm cooking,'" she replied as he set her down at the kitchen table and moved towards the stove.

Hermione got to her feet, but Draco pushed her back down into her chair.

"No!" he said. "I've been practising so hard for today!"

Hermione laughed and nodded, taking up her seat again as Draco set the Prophet in front of her and then moved to the stove once again.

Hermione shook her head. "Seven more cases of this 'disease.'" She cursed. "I hate that stupid Rodolphus."

"When are we going to start searching for the next ingredients?" Draco asked as he tried to remember where Hermione kept the mixing bowls.

"As soon as possible," she said with a sigh. "But we still have so far to go..."

Draco hugged her from behind and kissed the top of her head. "And I'll be there the whole time to help you. Now...er...what are the ingredients to scrambled eggs again?"

Hermione laughed and stood to help him.

...

Three hours later they were fed and clothed, suitable to be in the presence of others. The two of them floo'd to Number 12 and were greeted cheerfully by those living there.

"Happy Anniversary!" Everyone shouted.

Hermione accepted hugs while Draco received high-fives, pats on the back and man-hugs. They were ushered into the kitchen, where a huge lunch was set out before them.

They couldn't turn down Mrs. Weasley's cooking, and were stuffed in minutes.

"What are you two planning to do for the day?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she scooped more potatoes onto Hermione's plate. She was convinced the girl was far too skinny to live, and Hermione could swear she was giving her more and more food every time she came over.

"We were thinking Monaco, but we're not sure yet," Draco replied. "It's kind of a spontaneous sort of day."

Mrs. Weasley chuckled and smiled. "Oh, you two are so cute together. Wow. An entire year. The wedding feels like only yesterday."

Hermione began to slowly eat her potatoes. She'd be here all day if she didn't finish soon.

"The hangover I had after feels like only yesterday," Sirius added as he entered the room, pants missing. When would that man ever learn that boxers were not suitable for the dinner table?

"That's because you drank three extra tall bottles of firewhiskey by yourself last night in celebration," Harry said, laughing.

Sirius winced and brought a hand to his forehead. "Right."

After Hermione had finally finished her potatoes and she and Draco were preparing to leave, Ginny pulled Hermione aside.

"Happy Anniversary," she said with a smile as she shut the door to their previously shared bedroom.

Hermione smiled and plopped down on her old bed. "Thanks! What's up?"

She took a deep breath. "Do you remember that conversation the two of us had? About a certain someone I like... A lot?"

"Blaise Zabini," Hermione said, nodding. "That was a long time ago. I talked to him for you."

"I know," Ginny said, smiling. "And he said that he'd ask me out as soon as he was able to run away from his parents."

Hermione nodded. "I remember him telling me the same thing."

"Well..." Ginny's face was practically glowing. "I've been seeing him secretly the past couple of weeks!"

Hermione's eyes widened. "Ginny, that's great!" She reached out to hug her best friend. "But why is it a secret?"

"Well, he's still not completely broken away from his parents. As you know, it's not that simple to break free from the Death Eaters if you have parents keeping you in. But he's managed to run away, and if he stays away, he thinks that he'll eventually be left alone."

Hermione nodded.

"He just doesn't want anyone to think badly of him for still being a Death Eater."

"Did you tell him that we'd all understand? Just look how quickly Draco was accepted. I'm sure it'd be just fine."

Ginny smiled. "You're right, Hermione. I'll tell him that when I see him tonight. Now," she said with a wink. "You go and enjoy _your _Slytherin run-away."

Hermione giggled and stood, walking to the door. "Thanks."

"Have fun!"

"Oh, don't worry," Hermione responded before she shut the door. "I will."

...

Hello, loveys! Sorry my updates are taking so long...I have so many fanfictions and just keep making things harder on myself by adding more, but I'm not complaining! You're allowed to complain though, and it generally speeds my writing.

Please review if you get the chance! ^^


	3. Chapter 3

...  
>They didn't go to Monaco. They didn't go anywhere, really. They decided they didn't need to. So they went for a walk.<br>They were in a park on the edge of town when Hermione heard her stomach begin to growl. She glanced up from her stomach. "I'm hungry."  
>Draco smiled. "Well, what are you hungry for?"<br>Hermione thought. "Mexican food."  
>Quick as a flash, Hermione was in Draco's arms. Draco turned on the spot and Hermione was crushed against her husband, unable to breathe for a split second before they landed in a mysterious location.<br>Draco set Hermione lightly on her feet before he took her hand. "Where are we?" She asked, looking around. The streets were bustling and the language the people were speaking was definitely not English.  
>"Mexico!" Draco exclaimed, throwing out the arm that wasn't attached to the hand holding Hermione's hand.<br>Hermione laughed. "You speak Spanish?"  
>"Sí, me gusta Mexico."<br>Hermione rolled her eyes. He didn't speak Spanish.  
>He ushered her into a restaurant just in front of them. They took their seat and a waitress appeared. "Hola!"<br>"Ah, hola!" Draco said. "Yo tiene la calcetine!"  
>The waitress burst into laughter. "Good for you! I speak English. Would you like something to drink?"<br>"La ventana," Draco exclaimed.  
>Hermione rolled her eyes again. "He'll have a glass of red wine, same as me."<br>The waitress laughed good naturedly again and nodded, writing something down before leaving.  
>"Draco, you know you said you have a sock and then asked for a window, correct?"<br>Draco blinked. "I don't speak Spanish."  
>Hermione laughed. "I can tell."<br>Once the two of them had finished eating, they apparated back home to spend the night in their own house.

Draco woke first the next morning. Hermione was all curled up in his arms. It made him smile. He hugged her closer and she shifted a little.  
>"Nnghnnn..." she mumbled. "Draco? Is that you?"<br>He chuckled. "Of course it is. Were you expecting someone else?"  
>She smiled, her eyes still closed. "No."<br>Draco sighed. If he could wake up like this every day for the rest of his life, he'd be happy for forever.  
>Hermione yawned and stretched against his chest. "I should probably get ready for work."<br>"Need any help?" Draco asked, nuzzling her neck. "I'm really very good in the shower department."  
>Hermione laughed, finally opening her eyes. "If you help me than I'll never be ready."<br>She made to pull away, but Draco tightened her against him.  
>She was laughing and demanding to be let go of when there came a knock at the door.<br>"Crap," Hermione mumbled. She got out of bed and threw on her dressing gown. "What time is it?"  
>Draco picked up his watch from the side-table. "About ten."<br>She threw her hair up into a claw clip. "Crap," she repeated. "That's probably a patient. They know I don't open until eleven..."  
>Hermione ran down the stairs, pulling her dressing gown closed around her. She threw open the door.<br>"Blaise!" She exclaimed before she had time to notice the redhead in his arms. Her face fell into a horrified expression. "Oh, my gosh! What's going on?"  
>"That disease you diagnosed her with," Blaise said breathlessly. "It advanced so quickly, she just collapsed. Look, her skin is orange. Help her!"<br>Hermione stepped out of the way to allow for Blaise to bring her inside. She led him down the hall to her examination room. "Put her on the bed," Hermione instructed as she performed several sanitation spells on herself and found her first aid equipment.  
>"I don't have the antidote nearly close to being ready," Hermione muttered as she began mixing a potion. "But this should put off any more effects until I can finish it..."<br>Hermione tapped her glass stirring rod on the edge of her little beaker and then lifted Ginny's head a bit to allow the potion to slide down her throat. She laid her back down and dropped the beaker in the sink, pulling off her plastic gloves.  
>"You can calm down, now," Hermione assured Blaise, who was watching Ginny's skin fade back to normal nervously. "She'll sleep now. She'll wake up in a few hours. Would you like a cup of coffee?"<br>He shook his head, still watching Ginny.  
>Hermione smiled and placed a hand on his arm. "She'll be okay, Blaise. Come have some coffee with Draco and me. I have a few questions for you, anyways."<br>He finally pulled his eyes away from Ginny and nodded at Hermione. "Alright."  
>Hermione smiled. "Good."<p>

"So," Hermione said, taking a seat in front of Blaise, who was staring into his coffee as if he forgot what to do with liquids in a mug. He looked at her and then back down at his mug. "What were you and Ginny up to last night?"  
>He twitched, nearly knocking over his mug. He wiped up a few spilled drops hastily. "Uh-we-I found her-"<br>Hermione laughed. "I know you two are going out, Blaise. It's alright."  
>Draco came down the stairs at this moment, having put on a pair of pants by now.<br>"Hey! Blaise!" He said, high-fiving his friend before reaching into the cupboard for a mug for his coffee. "What are you doing here?" He paused slightly in reaching for his mug. "You didn't catch the disease, did you?"  
>He shook his head. "Ginny did."<br>Draco nodded, but paused again. "Why does that include you?"  
>"Blaise and Ginny have been dating for the past few weeks."<br>He dropped his mug, swearing as he knelt to repair it. "You're dating a Weasley?"  
>Hermione and Blaise glared. Draco grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like that. How come you didn't tell me?"<br>"Ginny and I wanted it a secret until the Death Eaters left me alone," Blaise replied, finally calm enough to take a shaky sip of coffee.  
>"You broke away?" Draco asked, pouring his coffee. "What else have you been keeping me?"<br>"Er...that one time when you asked me if you did anything when we skipped school and went to Vegas and I said of course not? By 'of course not' I meant 'you banged a stripper.'"  
>Draco spat his coffee into his mug. Hermione turned to glare at him. "I didn't mean it, baby, honest. I was obviously drunk, considering it was fifth year and I'd fancied you a bit in fifth year."<br>She sighed and turned back around.  
>"Anyways, yes," Blaise replied. "I managed to get away, and Ginny and I are dating."<br>"Ginny got sick with this a few weeks ago, didn't she?" Draco asked, rinsing out his coffee. He'd given up on it.  
>Hermione nodded. "I guess it just sort of rapidly got worse. She should be fine for a while now, though, after this potion. But I think we should get ready to go to the Ringo Desert sooner, before it's too late. Maybe even tomorrow morning."<br>Draco nodded. "I'll go and Owl Remus. We can organise another search party."  
>Hermione nodded and stood. "Well, I should get dressed. I'm expecting almost twenty patients today. You're welcome to stay, Blaise. I'm sure there's something on TV you could watch. Or you could take Ginny home."<br>Blaise shook his head. "Her parents don't know we're dating, and I don't really have a home."  
>Hermione stared at him, shocked. "Why didn't you say something? Merlin, Blaise! We've got a perfectly empty spare room right down the hall! You and Draco are practically brothers and I'd like to think we're friends after our whole deal...I still have almost all of the money you gave me for helping Draco-"<br>"Hermione, I don't want to be a bother-"  
>"Well, it'll do nothing but bother me if you DON'T stay."<br>He sighed. "Thanks, Hermione. And I guess it would put Ginny at ease, too."  
>"Good. And you can pay us back by helping us search for potions ingredients."<br>"With the Order?"  
>"You'll have to get to know them eventually," Hermione replied with a wink. "Meanwhile, could you take Ginny into the spare room? Your new room? There's a patient coming up the walk. See you later."<p>

Hi! ^^ Hope you enjoyed!


	4. Chapter 4

Hermione closed up shop two hours early and, along with Blaise, Draco, and a very groggy Ginny, apparated to Number 12. They were one of the first to arrive. As always, Sirius was there, considering it was his home. With him was Remus and Harry, seated at the kitchen table.

Harry nearly choked on his drink when he saw the limp Ginny in the arms of Blaise Zabini.

"What's going on, here?" Harry demanded, jumping to his feet.

"Calm down, Harry," Hermione said. "You knew very well that Ginny came down with the curse weeks ago. Her symptoms have progressed quite quickly, but she should be fine now."

"But what is he doing here?" Harry replied, motioning to Blaise, who had barely taken notice of the rooms occupants. He was far too busy keeping Ginny upright, waiting for when he could help her onto a sofa or into a bed. She needed to stay down. He wanted more than anything for her to be safe.

"He's dating Ginny!" Hermione said happily.

Harry spat out his drink again and Sirius laughed. "I figured she was seeing someone, what with all of the sneaking about."

"Now that we've got that over with," Remus said.

"Who said it's over with?" Harry exclaimed, feeling quite protective over the redhead, whom he felt was as much of a sister to him as Hermione was.

"We can get on with what we need to talk about," Remus continued, looking pointedly at Harry. His meaning was clear – _Be quiet. It's over with._ He gave Blaise a quick smile. "You can take her to her bedroom, if you'd like. It's the up the stairs, last door on the left."

Blaise nodded solemnly and hefted Ginny into his arms. He seemed to have no trouble at all walking across the floor with a girl in his arms. He carried her nimbly up the stairs and out of sight.

"Why is no one else freaking out about this?" Harry demanded.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Quite possibly because we all know that Blaise is a pretty good guy. Didn't you see? He obviously really likes Ginny. And everyone knows Ginny's liked him since at _least _fifth year."

"I always thought she liked me…" Harry responded.

Hermione rolled her eyes once again. "Oh, please, Harry. She got over that silly infatuation in fourth year."

Sirius chuckled, while it was Remus's turn to roll his eyes.

"Alright, children," Remus stated. "That's enough gossip for now. Let's get down to business. Hermione, I'm assuming you'd like to get together the next search party?"

Sirius slammed down his bottle of Firewhiskey. "You've got to be kidding me. We just got back from the last one!"

Hermione nodded. "I know. But I can't cure everyone for the time being like I cured Ginny. It's already going to take me a while to brew the antidote. I don't want it to take any more time than it has to, and the only way to ensure that is if we get all of the ingredients straight away."

Sirius grumbled something under his breath, but leaned back in his chair, obviously giving in.

"Right," Remus said. "Well, we'd might as well just wait for the others to arrive before we start anything."

"And we'll have to break the news about Ginny and Blaise to everyone, too," Harry said. "Then you'll see I'm not the only one who's bloody shocked about it."

Hermione laughed. "Whatever you say, Harry."

…

Like Harry had predicted, Ron had also had a spaz attack at the news of his little sister being with an ex-Death Eater. He was a little more dramatic, going so far as to threaten Blaise, who had returned to the kitchen for the meeting. Hermione and Harry managed to restrain Ron while Draco vouched for his good friend.

They eventually got to the meeting.

"Alright," Hermione said. "The next ingredient will be found in the Ringo Desert. We are searching for the Rat Scorpion. More specifically, we need its stinger. This expedition will be quite a bit more dangerous than the previous – "

"_More _dangerous?" Sirius exclaimed. "I nearly died on the last one!"

Hermione sighed. "It's not my fault you trip over your feet in fear whenever you spot a _butterfly._"

Sirius glared. "They've got feelers, and anything with feelers is positively horrifying."

"Again," Hermione said. "Not my fault. Anyways, back to things. We're going to need about six people besides myself along on this trip. Any more than that and we'll probably get ourselves in a bit of trouble, both danger-wise and with the government. And from the desert, we'll probably go straight to the next place and the next, which are at varying levels of danger. We may make stops at home in between, depending on how badly we need supplies. Any takers?"

Harry, Draco and Blaise immediately raised their hands. Upon seeing who was coming, Ron rose his hand as well. Next was Remus, then Neville, and then, begrudgingly when he noticed no one else would volunteer, Sirius said, quite melodramatically, "Alright! I'll go, for Merlin's sake!"

"No one's forcing you," Hermione said. "Just remember that."

Sirius grumbled something unintelligible and leaned back.

"Alright!" Hermione said. "We leave at the end of the week. Got that, everyone? Meet at my and Draco's house on Saturday at precisely 8:30, and off we'll be!"

Hermione nodded to Remus, who stood to take over the meeting. He had a few inside tips on where the Death Eaters currently were and where they intended on going, but that was news for the Order members not going on this new expedition.

At the end of the meeting, Blaise went up to Ginny's room so he could return her with him to Hermione and Draco's home.

She smiled when she saw him step through the door. "Hi, there," she whispered.

A smile spread across Blaise's broad lips. "Hi." He moved over to sit at the edge of her bed and leaned down to give her a soft kiss on the forehead. "Are you feeling well?"

She shrugged. "I suppose. What happened?"

"You fainted last night or something," Blaise explained. "I took you to Hermione straight away. By the way…everyone knows about us."

Ginny sat up so quickly she nearly crashed her head into Blaise's jaw. "What? My parents? Harry? _Ron?"_

Blaise grinned sheepishly. "Maybe."

"I'm unconscious for a day and everything changes. How did they take it?"

"Harry and Ron were a bit shocked, but everyone else was very supportive. I think. I can never tell what your mum is thinking…"

"She's scary that way," Ginny replied, smiling. "So, what's going on? Are you in the Order, now?"

Blaise shook his head. "Not really. But I'm going on the hunt for the potion ingredients with Hermione and Draco. To pay me back for letting them stay with them. And because I want, more than anything, for you to be better again."

Ginny nodded. "When do you leave?"

"Saturday," Blaise replied. "And I'm not quite sure when I'll return, but I'll try and visit as often as I possibly can. And, if I can, I'll write to you. Okay?"

She nodded. "Of course."

"Are you ready to go back to Hermione's? Or do you want to stay here?"

"Are you kidding? After they all found out I've been in a secret relationship? They'll smother me in my sleep! I'm coming with you!"

Blaise grinned. "Right, then. Come along." He lifted her up into his arms and off they went.

Ginny spent the night in Blaise's guest bed, and Blaise slept on the couch. At around three am, though, he snuck back in. When Ginny woke up, Blaise's head was rested at the foot of her bed. She was going to miss him. A lot.

…

Hello! ^^ I hope you enjoyed this update. Review if you get the chance, and I'll update again as soon as I can.


	5. Chapter 5

The first thing everyone saw when they'd apparated to the desert was sand. The second was the giant scorpion running straight at them.

"Hermione..." said Sirius. "Please tell me that this is _not_ a rat scorpion..."

"I would," Hermione said, swallowing hard. "But then I would be lying. Run!"

Everyone scattered out of the way just in time. The scorpion charged straight through where everyone had been previously standing. It let out a horrible shriek, then turned and looked for someone to target. It chose Sirius.

Sirius let out a rather unmanly scream and continued running as fast as he could. "Help me!" He cried, turning left, as if he were trying to lose him.

Hermione was a bit conflicted. She didn't want to ruin the stinger, because without it she wouldn't have the venom needed for the cure. But of course she couldn't let the beast kill Sirius!

Deciding to take her chances, she shot a quick reducto at the monster. One of its large, branch-like arms fell away from its body, and blood the colour of night fell in pools into the sand. Sirius got out of the way just as the giant arm fell towards him. Unluckily for Hermione, though, the scorpion now noticed her, and decided upon her as his new target.

Hermione bolted away, trusting that the other Order members would help her out. She didn't even have to worry for a minute, as Draco was after that scorpion like white on rice. He lashed spell after spell out of his wand at the creature until it got mad and decided to start stabbing it's stinger around randomly. It nearly cut off Remus's arm, slashed Blaise's shoulder, and was about to pierce Harry through the chest when Hermione managed to hack the stinger clean off.

The monster let out a horrible roar and started to run rampant, splashing blood and sand alike across everybody. Hermione couldn't stand to see the thing in distress, despite the fact that it had nearly killed both her and her friends. Together, Draco and she put an end to its misery. It fell to the ground in a pool of blood.

The group stood staring at the creature for several moments before things kicked up again. Hermione looked around to take stock of the damage. Sirius was making a scene, though his injury was his own fault – he tripped over a cactus. The person she was really worried about was Blaise, who had a big slash across his shoulder and part of his chest.

She could see the venom was already beginning to spread by the way he was teetering back and forth, and his eyes were drooping.

"Draco, go help Blaise lie down while I get my bag," she said, bolting over to where she'd thrown it to the ground in her attempt to save Sirius. Draco ran in the opposite direction, wrapping an arm around his best friend's shoulder and lowering him to the ground, onto the flannel shirt Remus had laid there.

"You're alright, mate," Draco said, kneeling next to Blaise and working him out of his blood-stained t-shirt. "You'll be just fine, you got that? Can you hear me? Nod if you hear me."

Blaise's head bobbed up and down, but his eyes were very unfocused. He couldn't seem to find Draco's face.

"Hermione's going to make you alright again, got that? Remember how easily she fixed Ginny? That's how it's going to work with you."

"Draco," Hermione said, kneeling down. "He's injured, not five."

Draco made a face. "I'm sorry if I don't know how to react to this situation!"

Hermione smiled. "You're right, though. This might even be easier than fixing Ginny. Blaise, can you tell me where the pain is most intense? Where did he hit you first?"

Blaise used his good arm to motion to an area just behind his shoulder. Draco held him up while Hermione examined his back, which was extremely discoloured. Hermione pulled out a bottle with a dropper attached and squeezed several drops of a thick, purple liquid into the open wound. Blaise moaned with relief. Hermione stoppered the bottle and pulled out a new one, which she poured onto a wash cloth and dabbed at the wound, working her way around his shoulder and down his chest. Finally, she pulled out another vial and a goblet. She poured water from a canteen into the goblet, followed by exactly eight drops from the vial. Then she stirred it with a glass rod and held the goblet to his lips.

"Drink up, then," Hermione said cheerfully, and was grateful that Blaise obliged. Within five minutes, his wounds were looking less horrendous, and so was his expression.

"Thanks, Hermione," Blaise said as Draco helped him to his feet.

Hermione smiled. "No problem. Now, to get to work on this stinger… We need to work fast, because the scent of the blood of a rat scorpion attracts other rat scorpions. I'd say we've got about ten minutes to get this venom and get out of here before other scorpions show up."

It took maybe a half a second for everyone to react to what Hermione had just said. Fast as lightening, Remus was at the giant, severed scorpion stinger, working at hacking off the part that carried venom. Hermione casually approached him with several bottles. They filled each with a sticky gold liquid in a matter of minutes. Once everything was packed into Hermione's bag, she turned to everyone.

"Alright, everybody, take a hand. We're going to the bottom of the ocean now."

This time, there wasn't time to react. Hermione didn't want to _give _them time to react. They didn't _have _time to react. Three more rat scorpions were headed their way.

In the blink of an eye, they were, as Hermione had said, at the bottom of the ocean.

"Huh," said Sirius. "I didn't expect the bottom of the ocean to seem so…homey."

Hermione laughed. "I wasn't going to take you to the crushing depths of the ocean! I took you to a _building _in the crushing depths of the ocean."

"Makes sense," Sirius replied, casually walking around as he admired the giant glass bubble they were standing within.

"So…why are we down here, exactly?" Harry asked, following his godfather in examining the surrounding area of the bubble. They really were at the bottom of the ocean, it seemed. The horrifyingly giant fish and the scary sea creatures let him know that much.

"Well, to find the next ingredient, of course!" Hermione replied, searching through her bag for something.

"Which is…" asked Ron.

"Whale teeth."

Neville gulped. "I hope you mean a breed of baby whale that is the size of a cat…"

Hermione shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Gear up, men. And get ready to be soaking wet."

…

Alright! The adventures begin!

Just so you know, I don't plan on this being a super long fic. The maximum number of more chapters is, like, five. Sorry. :/

But, hey! If you enjoy this story, then you'll for sure enjoy my many other ones! ^^


	6. Chapter 6

Twenty minutes later, the group was waving goodbye to Hermione, Draco, Blaise and Remus, the only three brave enough to use as many spells as they could to make sure they'd be comfortable at the bottom of the sea to go and retrieve the next ingredients. (Draco was most certainly not brave enough, but there was no way he was going to let Hermione do this on her own). The first thing they were going after was whale teeth, which wouldn't be hard to find with a quick accio. The next thing they needed was the scale of the sea witch, which would prove to be quite a bit more difficult.

As soon as they touched the water, their magic took effect. They were warm, they weren't being crushed, and they could breathe just as if they were on dry land. Hermione grinned. She felt like a mermaid.

"Accio whale teeth!" She said, waving her wand. Bubbles erupted from her mouth and were crushed into tinier bubbles as they raced towards the surface.

Thousands of yellow-white, knife shaped objects soared through the water towards the four. They swam up and out of the way just in time. Then, each of them swam down towards the teeth that had dropped and loaded them into their bags, which they'd kept dry.

"Where's the sea witch?" Draco asked, looking around as he took Hermione's hand.

Hermione pointed her wand in the direction they were headed.

"I hope you mean it's _next to _the horrifyingly dark cave that has weird snakes crawling in and out of it…" Draco said nervously.

Hermione only laughed and shook her head. "Come on, you're a big boy. What's a few snakes up against the things you've seen?"

"A snake has no soul," Draco replied as they moved on. "Humans think about things before they do them."

"Voldemort had no soul," Remus pointed out. "Just a tiny sliver of one."

"Yeah, but he also had uses for me," Draco replied. "The only use I might be of to a snake is lunch."

Hermione laughed again. "Come on, you big baby. Let's do this. Sea Witches have a really pathetic version of magic. This should be a cinch."

Draco wasn't so sure, but decided being with them was better than being on his own in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by horrifying, unknown sea creatures. Any one of them could have had a disturbing taste for human flesh. He wasn't going to take that chance.

The four of them swam on, then, straight into an intensely dark cave. They quickly lit their wands so they weren't caught off guard, but it didn't help in that regard – upon entering, they were immediately slammed by a wall of fish. Fish with teeth. Fish that glowed in the dark.

Draco screamed and tried to swim away, but Hermione grabbed him by the wrist as she easily knocked them out with a spell or two. Draco gave them a sheepish expression and Hermione rolled her eyes. Then she brought a finger to her lips and they continued on into the cave.

Once they made it through the initial terror of being in complete darkness and in a tunnel that seemed never ending, things weren't so bad. They were almost used to it by the time they reached the end of the tunnel and found themselves in the actual cave. It was about fifty feet across and twenty feet high, maybe about the size of the Potions room at Hogwarts, which was one of the largest rooms. At the centre was a cauldron, which was smoking suspiciously. Beside the cauldron was a table with what appeared to be a crystal ball. Lining the walls were shelves, all containing jars and vials of the strangest things, ranging from forks to fish. Whoever this sea witch was, it had some serious hoarding problems.

They entered the cave a bit further, each thinking their own thoughts, when they were suddenly aware of a strange sound, something other than the devastating silence they had gotten used to. It was sort of like the sound of something burning. It was coming from the cauldron.

"Who enters my cave without an appointment?"

The voice seemed to come from nowhere. It was dark, smooth, and hard to read. Hermione didn't think it sounded angry – mostly just smug.

The witch came from an illusion – the walls of the cave were made to look solid, but if you came from a certain angle, there were entrances all over the place. Hermione was glad she could see that now. It could be quite a bit of help.

"Humans?" said the sea witch. Hermione could finally get a look at who she was up against. She looked like she fell right out of the 80's. The upper-body was very human like. She was incredibly skinny and wrinkled, like a smoker. She had a large tuft of grey and black hair, streaked through with white, all piled on top of her head. She wore nothing but a gold poncho to cover herself. The bottom half was a fish tail, like she was a mermaid. The sea witch crossed her arms condescendingly. "Whatever could I have done to earn the honour of having four very pretty humans in my presence?"

Hermione cut straight to the chase, sending stupefy her way. Hermione's aim wasn't to kill the sea witch, but to stun her enough that she could get a couple of scales from her tail and then high-tail it on out of there. She didn't want to spend too much time here – there were three more ingredients she needed, plus she wanted to start with what she had as soon as possible.

The sea witch was very angry to find that she was now being attacked – the others had begun sending spells her way.

She decided to act as well. Pointing her finger at the walls, her jars and vials soared towards her and, in a way that reminded Hermione significantly of the scene from _The Little Mermaid, _dropped the contents of each into her cauldron of doom. The explosions were enough to send the four Order members flying across the cave, smashing into the walls.

"Stupefy!" Hermione shouted, watching as the spell ripped through the water towards the witch. She wasn't going to be taken out that easily, though, apparently, as she retaliated, sending more blasts from her cauldron at the others. Remus was hit in the back. Having the wind knocked out of him, he fell to the ground. Hermione managed to conjure a sort of bubble to cover him with so that he wouldn't drowned, but in the time it had taken her to do that, she had also been hit. Draco covered Hermione in the same sort of bubble she had used on Remus, and Draco and Blaise turned on the witch.

Draco was angry now, and when Draco was angry over something that had happened to Hermione, he was _angry._ The spells he sent at the witch were ones that leaned towards the line of being illegal. But he didn't let up, not until she was unconscious and barely breathing.

"Get twenty scales from her tail," Draco said to Blaise, who nodded. Draco dropped down and managed to wake Remus, who was breathing easily once again, though he was going to have a pretty nasty bruise to show for his beating.

Hermione, though, wasn't waking up. Draco covered Hermione with his own spells to keep her from drowning or being crushed, and when Blaise had returned with the bloody scales, they turned and made for the bubble once again.

…

Hermione woke up several hours later, rubbing her head. She found it was covered in some sort of gauze bandaging, the kind she knew she kept in her first-aid bag. She moaned, keeping her hand on her head as she sat up. She was back at her old room at the Burrow. Glancing out the window, she found that it was the middle of the night.

"You're awake!"

Hermione looked across the room to see that Draco was sitting in Ginny's bed, watching her apprehensively. He practically launched himself across the room and had Hermione wrapped in a hug before she could blink.

"What happened?" she mumbled groggily, hugging him back.

"You got hit during the fight with the sea witch," Draco replied. "After Blaise and I knocked out the witch and he got the scales, we brought you in to St. Mungo's. They said you would be fine, but I wasn't so sure. We only got here about a half an hour ago. No one even knows we're here yet. They're all still sleeping.

"Where's Ginny?" Hermione asked, realising the girl wasn't in her bed.

"She was asleep on the couch when we got here," Draco replied, sitting back and stroking Hermione's hair. "I'm guessing that Blaise has her up by now."

Hermione smiled and lay back in the bed. Draco came down with her, and she curled up in his side and was asleep in minutes.

…

Blaise couldn't help himself – he reached out and touched Ginny's smooth, soft face. She looked so peaceful, though he knew she must be in a lot of pain. He wondered if the disease still made her ache.

She made a soft sound in her sleep and turned over, now facing him. She smiled in her sleep, moving around a little bit. He wondered what she might be dreaming about. Maybe him? The thought made him very happy. He remembered back to his Hogwarts days, when all he did was have fun and he was always very happy. He hadn't felt much like that recently. But whenever he was with Ginny, it was easy to feel like that.

He smiled down on her, removing his hand. She frowned, wriggling in a bit. He realised she was very cold, and picked up an afghan from the back of the couch, draping it over her small frame. She smiled once again when Blaise brought his hand to her face once again. Her eyes opened once, very small, and she mumbled, "Blaise?"

Blaise smiled again. "Yes."

"Is this a dream?" It was almost impossible to decipher what she had said.

"No," he replied. "I'm really here. But you don't have to get up. I'll still be here in the morning."

She scooted over a bit on the couch, her eyes still closed. "Hold me."

Blaise lay down beside her, wrapping the redhead in his arms and quickly drifting off to sleep. It had been such a long time since he last slept, it seemed, that he passed out almost instantly.

…

Hi! I hope you enjoyed that one! It was super fun to write. ^^ Please leave me a review if you get a chance! ^^


	7. Chapter 7

When Ginny woke up the next morning, she found that she was in the arms of her favourite person in the world. So it hadn't been a dream. She sighed, closed her eyes again with a smile, and snuggled in as close as physics would allow.

Blaise chuckled lightly and hugged her tightly. "Good morning, love. How are you?"

"I've missed you," she replied, her voice muffled significantly by Blaise's chest.

He chuckled more. It felt nice to be in her presence once again. "I've only been gone since yesterday morning."

"That's far too long for my liking," Ginny replied. "How much longer will you be gone?"

Blaise shrugged. "Not sure. We've gotten three ingredients, and Hermione says there're three more we need to get. But we shouldn't be leaving until tomorrow morning – Hermione wants to get the potion started so we can finish up as soon as we return with the remaining ingredients."

Ginny smiled. "I'll bet you've been the most helpful of everyone."

Blaise simply shrugged. "I've been trying my very best."

Ginny nodded. "And that's all you can do, isn't it?"

…

Hermione woke up feeling very warm and very comfortable, despite the small discomfort in her head. She managed to sit up, but, in doing so, she had alerted Draco to her potential escape, and he just couldn't have that, now, could he? In an instant, Draco's limbs tightened tightly around Hermione, restricting movement. She laughed.

"Come on, Draco," she said softly, leaning down to kiss his temple. "I've got to get up and start on that potion, you know."

Draco's head shook back and forth, as it did every morning when Hermione tried to convince him that he needed to let go or the day would never begin. Draco was content to do nothing but lay in bed and snuggle his beautiful wife, but Hermione knew that without work, they would have nothing. So she, of course, had to be the bad guy. "Come on, now," she said with a smiled, leaning down so she was speaking softly against his ear. "You know you have to let me go..."

"I most certainly do not know that," Draco replied happily, still holding on to her tightly.

Hermione kissed his face. "Please? I'll kiss you until you can't breathe and you die if you don't let me go."

Draco didn't respond, so Hermione dove down and clamped her lips onto his.

At first, Draco kissed her back with as much force as she. But he soon realised that Hermione was miraculously still breathing and he was, in fact, suffocating. And when he pulled back-Hermione pushed closer!

"Alright!" he said against her mouth. He laughed. "You can get up." He opened his arms.

"Yay!" Hermione exclaimed, giving him another quick kiss before getting out of bed. "Thank you, lovey."

"Yeah, yeah," Draco replied, falling back into bed, his arm stretched over his eyes.

Hermione grinned, satisfied, and headed downstairs. She tiptoed past Ginny and Blaise, who were curled up close to each other and whispering quietly. She headed into the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea and to read the Daily Prophet. Everyone was still asleep by the time she was done, so she got together all of her things, wrote a note to let everyone know where she was, and apparated to her own home.

Three hours later, when the potion was brewing nicely, everyone showed up again, hopefully enjoying their little break.

"Hello, everyone," she said. "I've made you all snacks. They're in the kitchen."

She barely even got a response. Everyone immediately left her office and headed to the kitchen, where Hermione had everyone's favourite foods together: tortilla chips and her very own mango-avocado salsa for Harry and Ron, who absolutely loved the stuff, mostly because she put jalopeno in it and they liked to see who could have it in their mouth the longest, cupcakes for Neville, apples for Remus, Firewhiskey and saltine crackers for Sirius – he needs to stay in shape, you know – and olives, cheese and crackers for Draco and Blaise, who were very much used to more expensive food.

She felt very bad that they had to do all of this with her. They were risking their lives. And since men thought mainly with their stomachs, she guessed that food was the best way to get back on their good side, even if she wasn't on the bad side to start with.

Draco didn't leave with the others. Instead, he came over to her with a smile, wrapping his arms around her waist as she slowly, methodically stirred the brew. He rested his chin on her shoulder and watched as she worked. "You're in a very caring mood today," he noted.

Hermione smiled softly and shrugged. "I don't know. I get into these moods where I'm very gentle, I guess."

Draco smiled again. "I've noticed. Can I tell you something?"

"Of course," Hermione said, a little shocked that he'd even have to ask her permission.

"I think you'd make a terrific mother."

Hermione's hand froze for a fraction of a second, before she realised that the cure would go bad if she didn't keep stirring.

"Er…" She cleared her throat. "What makes you say that?"

"You just seem so perfect," he said. "You're gentle and caring and nice and – look at you! You're risking your life for a bunch of people you hardly know."

"That's not true," Hermione said, unsure of why she was protesting. "Ginny's my best friend. And Mr. Rogers sells me a lot of my ingredients. And Sally Watson gives me a rose every time I donate to the Phoenix Veterans Fund."

Draco shook his head. "That's not the point. I was just thinking that, well, maybe we could start a family."

"Draco, we're in the middle of an epidemic. I'm not sure now's the –"

"I don't mean _right now," _Draco said, removing his arms from Hermione's waist and coming around the table to take her free hand. "I just want to start trying. Don't you want a family?"

"O-of course I do," Hermione replied, a bit frightened by his sudden intensity. "But Draco – what's brought all of this on?"

Draco let go of her hand and shrugged, walking around the office, poking into things Hermione wished he would stay away from. No matter, she'd warn him if the potion he was about to sniff would burn his fingers off.

"Not sure," he said finally. "I had a dream last night, and in it we had children. I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I just thought it would be nice for us to finally settle down."

"Draco, we're still very young," Hermione pointed out. "And if we were to have children, there's really no way of knowing that they'd be safe. We're still finishing up this war. There's no need to rush into things."

Draco shrugged. "Okay."

But Hermione knew he wasn't going to let this drop.

"Come here," she stated firmly, and Draco looked up at her before wandering over like a sulky child. When he reached her side, Hermione placed a gentle hand on his cheek. "I'm not saying no. I'm just saying not right now. Okay? I'd just rather live my life a bit more before we have such a large responsibility. I mean, I wouldn't be able to stand it if we brought a child into this world and they were hurt by the war in some way because we weren't there to protect them. I'm not sure I'd be able to stand that."

Draco nodded, smiling. "Of course."

He pulled her into a quick hug. Then he pulled back and grinned. "Now, I believe there are snacks awaiting me."

Hermione laughed. "Your favourite. Quick, before Blaise eats them all."

Draco mock-saluted her before he dashed off to the kitchen, leaving Hermione to shake her head after him.

Children…what had gotten into that boy?

…

Very early the next morning, the lot of them repacked their bags and set off once again, this time to a very different part of the world – the North Pole.

"I hope we meet Santa Claus!" Ron shouted excitedly the moment they landed.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's funny you say that, Ronald. Santa Claus has our next ingredient."

Ron stared at her. "I was kidding. Hermione, you're not telling me that Santa Claus actually exists?"

"Sure he does," Hermione replied. "Where else do you think parents get information on what their children are doing wrong? He may not bring presents to children, but he definitely knows who's been naughty and who's been nice."

Draco leaned over and whispered, "He doesn't see us in the bedroom, does he?"

Hermione laughed. "No, of course not! He stops watching you after you turn eighteen, unless the Law asks him to watch you."

Draco nodded, relief quickly washing over him.

They all walked, chatting amongst each other, all bundled up despite the charms they'd used to keep warm.

"Where does this guy live?" Draco asked after a while. "I'm freezing."

Hermione laughed. "He's Santa, he doesn't live where you can see him."

"What, you don't know?" Draco asked. "That's just great. We're going to die out here."

"Of course I know!" Hermione replied. "We have a ways to go, though, so calm down. We'll get there when we get there."

**...**

**Hey! Hope you liked it! Drop me a review if you get the chance! ^^**


	8. Chapter 8

"That's the North Pole?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "No, Ronald, it's the North shoelace. Yes, it's the North Pole!"

"I didn't think it was an actual pole!" Ron exclaimed, gesturing to the tall white pole shooting up high into the sky.

Draco laughed. "What did you think it was?"

"I always figured it was The Earth's axis of rotation – and hence the position of the North Pole – and commonly believed to be fixed (relative to the surface of the Earth) until, in the 18th century, the mathematician Leonhard Euler predicted that the axis might "wobble" slightly. Around the beginning of the 20th century astronomers noticed a small apparent "variation of latitude," as determined for a fixed point on Earth from the observation of stars. Part of this variation could be attributed to a wandering of the Pole across the Earth's surface, by a range of a few meters. The wandering has several periodic components and an irregular component. The component with a period of about 435 days is identified with the 8 month wandering predicted by Euler and is now called the Chandler wobble after its discoverer. The exact point of intersection of the Earth's axis and the Earth's surface, at any given moment, is called the "instantaneous pole", but because of the "wobble" this cannot be used as a definition of a fixed North Pole (or South Pole) when metre-scale precision is required. (sources) Thus creating an invisible and constitutional point of the Earth's axis."

Hermione blinked. "Don't be ridiculous, Ronald. It's just a giant pole that's connected to the sky. None of what you just said even made sense."

Ron grumbled to himself and Hermione stepped forward and got onto her hands and knees.

"Erm, Hermione?" Harry said. "What are you doing?"

"There's a pressure point around here somewhere…" she muttered, mostly to herself as she patted the ground.

Suddenly, the ground shifted beneath them and they all froze. "Found it," Hermione managed to say a split second before they were all sucked into the Earth, plummeting to an unknown fate.

Ron screamed, Sirius yelped, Harry yelled at Hermione for not warning them, Draco gripped Hermione tightly, Neville looked like he was going to cry, and Remus and Blaise were silent. They continued to fall quite a ways until, finally, they crashed into a pile of what looked like fluffy snow, but felt like rocks. Hermione groaned as she managed to sit up and pull herself off of her husband, he moaned and rolled off of the pile of snow onto an icy sidewalk, moaning some more. Hermione got to her feet and, once she made sure everyone was alright, she made sure she had everything still in her backpack and she looked around.

They were in a small town covered in – surprise, surprise – candy cane striped lamp poles and houses made of gingerbread and icing. It looked delicious. Especially the castle far up ahead, except for the smokestacks, which, she realised, were the reason for the air's chocolaty scent.

"Are you guys ready to go?" She asked, turning to the others.

They made a fuss, but, eventually, the group of them made their way to the tall castle, which Hermione pointed out as "the workshop."

"So if Santa doesn't make presents," Ron asked as they walked, "what are all of the elves for?"

"Who do you think does all of the spying?" Hermione asked.

Ron was quiet and looked quite frightened. Hermione laughed.

After walking just a bit longer, they came up to the door of the workshop, and Hermione knocked. After waiting a few moments, and eye appeared in a little slot.

"May I help you?" someone said from behind the door.

Hermione smiled politely. "Yes. My name is Hermione Granger; I believe I sent you a letter…"

The door opened. Behind it was revealed a long corridor and a very tiny man, grinning widely at them.

"Mrs. Malfoy!" exclaimed the elf. "The girl who is going to cure millions! Come in, come in!"

Sirius leaned over and whispered into her ear. "Millions?"

"I may have exaggerated just a bit," she whispered back, and Sirius chuckled.

"Come this way," said the elf. "Mr. Clause is waiting for you. He's got everything you asked for right in his office."

"Thank you," Hermione said. "It was very thoughtful of him to allow me to pay him in candycanes."

The elf shrugged. "He loves candycanes."

Ron looked ecstatic. "Oh my Godrick. I'm going to meet Santa Clause. Oh my Godrick. I can't believe this is happening."

Hermione rolled her eyes.

Finally they came to what seemed to be the very back of the house, which they reached by following a very long hallway. They stood in front of two tall double doors, which to elf opened with ease.

"In you go, friends," said the elf, ushering each of them inside.

Hermione didn't even notice that Santa Clause was in there. The first thing she noticed was a giant snow globe, inside of which was a huge, 3 dimensional diagram of the entire planet.

"I want to touch it," Ron whispered.

Hermione glared at him. "Do and you die."

"Mrs. Hermione Malfoy." Hermione started, searching the room for the source of the voice, finding it to be from the very familiar looking man seated behind the globe. "I've been watching you since I received your letter to make sure you are who you say you are."

Hermione swallowed hard. "And?"

The globe moved aside and revealed a very large and grinning man. "I'm proud to be able to say that I'm helping you, Mrs. Malfoy."

Hermione smiled. "Hermione is fine."

He grinned. "Hermione. Now, what is it that you needed from my stores?"

"I'll need thornholly and reindeer cork."

"Ah, yes," he said, standing and moving to the other side of the room. There he opened a large door and rummaged through the many shelves before pulling out two jars, one containing a sticky, chunky red substance, the other what appeared to be moldy wood chips. "I believe this will do?"

"That's perfect," Hermione said as he handed it over. She smiled and pulled something from her bag. Candycanes. "And I believe this will do?"

"Marvelous!" he exclaimed.

Just as he reached for them, though, there was a gut wrenching sound of glass rolling, a loud crack and a thud, and a sickening crunch, followed by screams. Hermione closed her eyes and slowly turned around. The globe was nowhere to be found. Just a few shards of glass, a great hole in the floorboards, and a sheepish looking Ronald Weasley.

Next Hermione turned to Mr. Clause. He was fuming.

"I hope this doesn't affect our business together?"

The old man sucked in a loud breath. Then: "GUARDS!"

Hermione wasn't too afraid. The only people who worked for this guy were a bunch of elves. She was afraid, though, when she saw that these guards were ten feet tall, and had guns.

"Move, move, move!" Hermione shouted, and all at once everyone split out of there as fast as they could.

"Ronald!" Hermione yelled over the ensuing gunshot. "Why are you so stupid?"

"It wasn't me!" Ron exclaimed. "Well, I mean, it _was_, but Malfoy dared me to do it!"

Draco looked offended. "I did no such thing!"

"Both of you just _shut up and run!" _Hermione exclaimed, and they kept on.

Suddenly, Ron was struck with a peculiar bullet, one that stunned him, causing him to drop to the ground.

Without hesitation, Blaise turned back around and hefted Ron onto his right shoulder. His left arm was grazed with a bullet and it fell limp, but he kept going. The group of them ran as fast as they could until they reached an apparition point, and they were out of there as fast as they could say "Candycane."

…

Hi. ^^ Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

"Where are we?" Draco asked the moment they reappeared in a brightly lit room.  
>"A friend's house," Hermione replied. "Blaise, set down Ron over here. As soon as I'm done with him I'll get to you, okay?"<br>He nodded. "Take your time."  
>Hermione began wrenching off Ron's shirt. The bullet was lodged deep in his back and was about the size of an acorn. He wasn't bleeding and there were no traces of blood, but something must have happened, as he couldn't move.<br>Hermione figured it must have been filled with poison. She knew that pulling something poisonous from the body would allow the poison to spread more quickly, so she pulled out her wand.  
>"This might be a bit uncomfortable, Ronald," she said quietly. She knew he would have been protesting if he could move or speak, but since he could do nothing, Hermione froze all of the blood within his body.<br>She only had a few moments now, so she worked as quickly as possible. She dislodged the bullet and a crystal of frozen blood dripped from the spot where the wound was. Examining the crystal of blood, she spotted a mysterious purple substance floating within it. She figured that was what was stunning him.  
>Taking a deep breath and raising her wand, she performed a spell she usually used for snake bites. It would remove the venom of the snakes, so she hoped it would remove the poison. She was running out of time.<br>Nothing happened. It was because the blood was frozen. She knew that.  
>"Alright, Ron, you're going to have to work with me. I don't know if you can, but if you can I want you to hold your breath. That will make this run more smoothly. On three, okay? One...two...three!"<br>She unfroze his blood and Ron's chest rose a bit as he attempted to hold his breath. As quickly as she could, Hermione performed the spell.  
>"Someone go into that cupboard over there and get me a cup!" Hermione exclaimed.<br>Harry did this, nearly slipping as he slammed it on the table.  
>Out of the wound in Ron's back flowed a stream of purple. Hermione directed it into the cup. The second the last of it was out, Ron exhaled in a loud bellow and collapsed back on the bed, completely spent. Hermione patted his arm. "I'm sorry about that, Ron. Can you wiggle your fingers and toes for me?"<br>Ron obliged, but he kept his eyes closed and didn't speak.  
>"Very good. Why don't you rest now?" She patted his arm lightly and then turned to Blaise. Through his calm exterior, Hermione knew he was frightened after what he just witnessed. She smiled at him reassuringly.<br>"Don't worry," she said. "Yours shouldn't be as crazy as that. Why don't you sit down and I'll get to work?"  
>Blaise nodded and sat down, rolling up his sleeve so Hermione could get to the cut in his arm. She worked methodically for only about a minute.<br>"Can you wiggle your fingers for me?" she said, standing up.  
>Blaise lifted his arm and did what she asked.<br>Hermione smiled. "Perfect. Let me just patch up the cut and then I'll get to Ron."  
>As she was bandaging Ron's cut so it wouldn't get infected, though, something soared right passed her head.<br>Hermione jumped and Draco's wand was up to defend her in a split second.  
>"Who there?" came a voice.<br>"Meg, it's me!" Hermione called out, ducking as another vase soared past her head. "It's Hermione!"  
>"Hermione?" The voice was quiet and timid.<br>"Yes, Meg," Hermione said, grinning as a tiny old Asian woman stepped into the room.  
>The lady adjusted her big glasses and squinted her eyes. Then her face brightened and she wrapped her tiny, shriveled arms around Hermione's waist.<br>"Hi, Meg," Hermione said, hugging the little lady back.  
>"Hermione," the lady said, snuggling into Hermione.<br>"We just needed a place to fix up my friends," Hermione said. "We'll be leaving in a few minutes. Sorry for intruding."  
>"Intruding?" said Meg. "No! You need to introduce me to husband. I cook dinner."<br>Hermione smiled. "That's very thoughtful, Meg. Thank you."

A few hours later, when they were all full of food and ready to collapse, Hermione announced that they would be staying overnight, and they were all grateful.  
>Hermione lay awake in bed that night, staring up at the ceiling. Draco rolled onto his side, noticed she was still awake and propped himself up on one elbow.<br>"'Mione?" he mumbled, kissing her cheek. "Is something wrong?"  
>She sighed and shook her head. "No. Nothing's wrong."<br>He leaned over her, looking down into her face. "I don't believe you. Tell me."  
>Hermione's heart felt heavy. "Getting the last ingredient...it's going to be dangerous."<br>"More dangerous than giant scorpions, sea witches and angry Santa Clause?"  
>Hermione laughed once, very quietly. "Yes. More dangerous. And I just...I'm not exactly sure I want to put everyone through it. It could scar them all for life. I don't want to be the cause of them being traumatized."<br>"Hermione," Draco said, as if he were trying to explain why the sky was blue to a pesky child. "We're all here for you, no matter what. We realize how important this all is, and we would never leave you to do it all by yourself. Do you understand?"  
>Hermione smiled up at her husband. "Yes."<br>"Good." He kissed her gently. "Now, I want you to go to sleep, and tomorrow, we'll get through this."  
>Hermione hoped he was right.<p>

…

Very short chapter…sorry about that…

But I hope you enjoyed it, anyways! ^^ I was a little distracted while I wrote it, (I wrote it on Friday night – Saturday morning during a thunder storm in a camper and a tree right next to my camper got struck by lightning) so please forgive me for any mistakes I may have made. Ciao! ^^


	10. Chapter 10

Hi, guys! I'm trying to finish up this story as soon as possible so I can start up the sequel to either Muggle Games or The Life Project. (Yes, I am officially going to start sequels for these. In The Life Project it will be a threequel, going through the minor characters). There will only be a few more chapters of this story, then! Please enjoy! ^^

…

Hermione took a deep breath, looking around at the others while they chatted amongst themselves, lacing up their shoes, finishing the breakfast Meg had cooked for them with care, rubbing sleep from their eyes. They all looked so happy. It hurt Hermione to know that she would probably have to be the one to take this happiness away from them within the next couple of hours. At least, she hoped she could trim this down to only a few hours. She didn't want this to stretch on too long – she wasn't sure how much they could handle.

Ron was walking around and talking and eating, so it looked as if he would be okay to come along, much to Hermione's misfortune. She had been hoping she might spare at least one of them from the horrors to come, but now it looked like they'd all have to suffer.

Hermione was procrastinating, to say the least. She completely loaded her plate, despite having pretty much no appetite, and chewed each tiny bite fifty times before swallowing. By the end of her meal, she was ready to throw up. After eating, she took a shower that lasted about a half an hour – twenty minutes longer than her usual showers. She dried her hair with a hair drier instead of magic, and she picked her clothes very specifically before dressing carefully. It took her a full five minutes just to tie her shoes, and by this time, everybody wanted to get a move on. Blaise wanted to get back to Ginny; Draco, Ron and Harry wanted to catch a Quidditch match, Sirius and Remus had a birthday at a bar to attend, and Neville wanted to get back to Luna. Hermione, though, took her own sweet time in braiding her hair and repacking her backpack. Finally, though, she'd run out of things to do and, with a heavy sigh, announced that it was time to leave. They all cheered, and Hermione thought it was pretty ironic that they were cheering for something that could possibly scar them all for the rest of their lives.

Hermione apparated quite a ways away from where they were meant to be, but even so, everyone immediately recognised where they were.

"Is this…?" Harry began.

Hermione only nodded. They were outside the grounds in which the most notoriously evil Wizard's and Witches were buried in. The most recent addition – the dust and bones of Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"And what are we doing here, exactly?" Asked Sirius, who was swallowing hard.

"We're here to get our final ingredient," Hermione responded.

"Which is…?" Asked Ron fearfully.

Hermione took a deep breath. "A few weeks ago, something that hasn't been seen in years was spotted inside these burial grounds. It's called a Magni-Boggart – not only does it become your greatest fear, but it haunts you with it. It will enter your mind, it will make you physically ill, it will attack you. A simple riddikulus is no match against one of these. You have to fight and conquer your worst fear."

Hermione heard each of them gulp, and knew that more than one of them was thinking of backing out, but was too proud to say anything. Either that or they didn't want to be left alone. Or, in Draco's case, wouldn't leave her side until he died.

Hermione was so glad Draco was here she could have screamed and sang a song and flown and tugged out her hair all at once. It was such an overwhelming tug at her emotions that she had to reach out for him. She took his hand in hers. He smiled and squeezed her hand reassuringly, understanding her fears.

They finally came to the gate surrounding the grounds.

"Now, some of you may know that your fear is seeing someone you love dead. In the case of a Magni-Boggart, it will disregard this and show you your next worse fear, something it can actually become, something so frightening that it will stun you. Magni-Boggarts can be deadly if you don't overcome your fear, so _overcome your fear. _We're all here to help one another, alright? Don't forget that."

"Hermione?" Remus asked. "What are we here for, exactly?"

"We're not here for the Boggart," Hermione replied. "The Boggart is simply an obstacle we have to overcome on our way to success. What we're here for is the creator's bones. Lord Voldemort invented this curse, and so Lord Voldemort is the only one who can destroy it."

…

They began trekking through the grounds and for the first few minutes, Hermione was started to expect that maybe she had overreacted. Maybe the Boggart wouldn't come out at all. Maybe they could just take the bones and leave to save all of those people.

But even she knew that it wasn't that easy. And as they came up close upon the stone that marked where the Dark Lord had been haphazardly tossed aside, Hermione saw something flicker, and knew that what was about to begin would be anything but pretty.

What appeared in front of them first was something quite familiar – a giant scorpion. And from the way Neville was reacting, they all knew that it was Neville's worst fear.

Despite what Hermione had said, Neville raised his wand and shouted, "Riddikulus!"

Though the creature was a bit stunned, it only stepped back a few inches before roaring forwards angrily.

"Guys, remember what I said!" Hermione shouted. "We're here to help one another. Go!"

They surrounded the beast. Sirius easily tugged Neville out of the way, sending a _stupefy_ up at the monster. Hermione was crashing out _reducto_s at the creature, hoping she'd blast off something vital, hoping they could be rid of this guy before Neville had a heart attack. She managed to scourge several large holes into its backside, but not enough to kill the beast. Draco was launching out random hexes Hermione had never heard of, most of which were successful only in turning the monster different colours. Each member of the group had their own spell, hoping something would work eventually. After they'd been battling the beast for several minutes, Hermione saw movement out of the corner of her eye. It was Neville, and he was headed in for the fight.

"_Reducto!" _He screamed, and Hermione knew the beast was done for. It swirled around several times, changing form. This time, it changed into something Hermione wasn't sure she wanted to fight. It was Remus Lupin hunched over and distorted, the angry shape of a rabid werewolf.

Hermione saw Remus wince, but he was much better at facing his fears. The others didn't even have to help. The Remus look-alike didn't have time for one full howl before the real Remus had knocked him around, bringing forth the next monster, which just so happened to be Voldemort. But instead of Harry cowering, it was both Blaise _and _Sirius.

"Guys, this is bad!" Hermione shouted. "This could give the real Voldemort the potential to come back to life. You guys need to hold him off, alright? I'm going in for the ingredients and we're going to try and get out of here as quickly as we can."

The Boggart-Voldemort was sending out _Avada Kedavra_s, and Hermione so terrified that she tripped more than once on her way to the grave, just behind where the Boggart was standing. The others were effectively dodging the attacks, but Hermione wasn't so sure they could do this forever. Harry, though, managed a _stupefy _that knocked Voldemort off of his feet, sending in a Dementor, which was rearing up for a kiss. Sirius was close to death by the time the monster was gone and in came Blaise's fear – death itself, in the form of poison. This was something that couldn't be resisted, Hermione knew, so as she dug through the dirt to find what she needed, she screamed over at the others.

"Guys! Somebody needs to hold back Blaise! _Now! _And somebody – _smash that potion!_"

Draco effectively held back his best friend as Harry brought his fist down on the glass, sending the Boggart reeling back.

Hermione finally found the bones as the Boggart wheeled into a giant spider, with pincers and stingers and all sorts of dangerous body parts. Ron collapsed into tears as Hermione hurriedly tugged at the bones, gagging at the smell as she shoved them into her bag.

Just as Hermione stood up, Harry conjured a giant shoe – apparently filled with concrete – to fall on top of the spider. Just as the oversized arachnid was killed, though, Hermione's fear decided to show. Failure.

Hermione froze midstep. She was no longer seeing the burial grounds, the grave, her friends. She was seeing every potential failure in her entire life. Namely, not finishing the potion and having to watch all of those people – all of her loved ones – slowly rot away into nothingness. It all began reeling in front of her eyes like a video. She could feel the others shaking her, telling her to snap out of it, but she could do nothing. She continued to watch the reel, feeling more and more dejected with every passing second. Ginny. The lady from the War Veterans Fund. The old man at the Farmers Market. The little boy who lived on the street that she gave health care to for free. All of those people were in her hands, and if she failed…

"Hermione!" Draco shouted through all of the chaos in her mind. "You can do this! I know you can. I don't know what's going on inside your head, but I love you and I know that you can overcome it!"

She felt his hand on hers and, though she couldn't move, she felt strength just from his touch.

_I will not fail,_ her mind told the Boggart. _I will win this war. I will not fail!_

In an instant the Boggart left Hermione's head. She shook her head, falling weakly into Draco's arms. She smiled against his chest.

"I love you," she whispered.

She felt Draco chuckle. "I love you, too. I knew you could do it."

She nodded. "Alright, everybody, let's get out of here before it comes back as something worse!"

They all agreed and were out of there before they could even blink.

…

Hm…

I don't know. What do you think?


	11. Epilogue

Here it is – the epilogue of the sequel to my most popular fanfiction has arrived! ^^ I hope you enjoyed it!

…

Hermione breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the glass vial passed from her fingers safely into the hands of Mr. Sulliman. He was the last person on her list. This was it. She had finally healed every last person who had contracted the curse-disease. It had taken a lot of time, effort, and pain, but she had gotten through it.

Now she had some important business to attend to, and she knew Ginny would kill her if she wasn't ready in a half an hour. She untied her apron as she ran out of her office, shutting off the lights and locking the door as she went. She hung her apron on a peg outside the door and passed through the kitchen, where Draco was reading the newspaper. "You've got twenty-five minutes," he said as she passed.

"I know!" She exclaimed, jogging quickly up the stairs. She entered the bathroom, ripping off her clothing and starting the shower at the same time. She was in and out in five minutes, had her hair dried in a few seconds, and was changing into her dress in the blink of an eye.

"Draco?" she called, struggling to work up her zipper.

She heard him plod up the stairs, seeing him in the bedroom just a few moments later. "Yeah?"

"Do me up, please?"

He smiled and stepped into the room, quickly doing the zipper up the back of her yellow Matron of Honour gown. She sighed and spun around once, sliding on her shoes. "How do I look?"

"Tired," Draco responded, hands wrapped tightly around a mug of coffee. He smiled. "But gorgeous."

Hermione grinned and leaned forward to peck her husband on the cheek.

"Alright, we'd better get going," she said then, tightening Draco's tie. She set his coffee on the dresser and took his hand. Together they apparated to the Weasley home.

…

Hermione's feet were killing her and those appetizers were calling her name. The ceremony was lasting too long and all she wanted to do was run back to Draco. But she was incredibly happy for her best friend and besides, Draco was Blaise's best man. He would never leave his best friend's side, just like she knew he would never leave her side.

She knew she should probably be focusing on the marriage of her best friend, but couldn't help letting her mind wander to her own marriage. It was…perfect. She was so happy, and she couldn't wait for tonight. She had some very special news to share with Draco, but didn't want the news to spoil the wedding.

They kissed, and Hermione cried tears of joy. Then she went straight to the food, avoided the alcohol, sat down for a while, and danced with Draco and, finally, the two made their way home.

"You tired?" Draco mumbled as the two fell into bed. He snuggled closely against his wife, hugging her in close.

"M-hm…" she mumbled sleepily. "I guess living for two can be a little tiring sometimes."

Draco froze. "For two…?"

Hermione smiled and turned to face her husband. "I'm pregnant."

A grin spread slowly and widely across Draco's face. He swallowed. "Really?"

"No, not really, I'm joking," Hermione replied, rolling her eyes. She grinned. "Of _course _really!"

She burst out laughing and hugged Draco tightly.

"You're pregnant!" Draco exclaimed.

"I know!" She replied, still laughing.

"We're going to have a family!" he continued.

"We are!"

"I love you!"

Hermione laughed. "I love you, too, Draco."

…

Whoa, ending! ^^ I hope you liked this story. I'm kind of iffy on it (especially because the original got 400 reviews and this only got 50, all of which I am so happy with and thank you all so much because you're fantastic!) but that's okay because I liked writing this. I had a blast, and you guys made it more awesome than it was. Thank you guys for being so perfect! I love you all! ^^ Mwah!


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